Egon March Institute (EMI) was founded by Slovene media art pioneer Marko Košnik in 1986 as a unit for reflection, research, and production in interdisciplinary arts. Since its beginning it was conceived as a platform for the joint research of artists originating in different fields of artistic activities, that is, choreography, photography, video, acoustics, electro acoustic music (improvised and composed), architecture, fine arts, interactive systems, digital arts, conceptual frameworks, social sculpture ... which end up as artistic actions. EMI signed over 60 productions in the span of 25 years, mainly in the fields of interactive performance, interactive installation, netcast performance, radio plays/compositions, and video instrumentalism. EMI regularly cooperates with numerous national colleagues and institutions and especially with international ones.

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Background

During the 1980s, Marko Košnik collaborated with several alternative groups (Junajtit Adis, Laibach, Cavis Negra, Most). In fact the name of the institute first appeared in the context of the group Most (Bridge) which consisted of Bojan Štokelj, Etbin Sefančič, Marko Košnik, March Davorin, Edi Marinček, and others.
EMI's first larger production was Bellum Contra Solem, a performance in the urban environment of Nova Gorica in 1991, conceived as a spectacle with the contribution of 20 artists.
In 1997 Egon March Institute formally became a private non-profit institution and since then its productions are largely international.

Collaborations and projects in the 1990s

EMI collaborated with Radio Študent (RŠ) with a regular transmission programme Egon March Institute presents (1991–1996) which initiated a free media university MUU (Media Uplink Unit), an alternative radio production school for radio activists from Germany and Austria. Based on this experience, the Ministry of Experiment (MZX) was founded by Borut Savski, Bojan Ažman, Luka Frelih, and Marko Košnik. The latter acted as an independent production unit within Radio Študent between 1997 and 2000.

In 1992 EMI produced and coordinated Piazzeta Ljubljana within the Van Gogh TV Piazza Virtuale for documenta IX in Kassel. A live broadcast project was performed in collaboration with Radio Študent (RŠ) and KUD France Prešeren Arts and Culture Association as a performance venue. The programme was broadcast by satellite TV network 3SAT, transmitted in Slovenia by Kanal A (a commercial TV established only a year earlier).

Projects after 2000

In 2000 Egon March Institute produced Desktop Cinema, a music performance with live video instrument by Margrit Rieben, Dirk Bruinsma, and Marko Košnik in Kino Reitschule Bern, Slovenian Cinematheque, and Pekarna Magdalena Network. A year later Theothea, a multimedia opera by Miško Šuvaković, Margrit Rieben, Dirk Bruisnma, Ulrike Gabriel, Marko Košnik, Andreas Findeisen, and Monika Glahn, was held at the symposium Theatre in South-Eastern Europe in Belgrade.

In 2002 the Jaap Blonk, Dirk Bruinsma, and Marko Košnik trio performed at Overtoom 301 (joint production with OT301), followed by a Dutch Tour (Rotterdam, Den Haag, Nijmegen, Tilburg, produced by Jaap Blonk in 2003) and a performance at Roaratorio Festival in Geneva (produced by Dirk Bruinsma in 2004).

Operabils and Ditopias

In the years 2004–2011 the series Operabils and Ditopias by Marko Košnik and collaborating artists was produced by Egon March Institute. "Operabils" are modules of media opera while "Ditopias" are a form of in situ interactive installations, the first one presented at Station Mir, Caen (FR). Since then EMI has produced over 20 Operabils and Ditopias that promote open source ideology and are situated in Tirana (Operabil Shqiptare, 2006), Vienna (Operabil Vienna, 2006), Amsterdam (Operabil POW), Brno, Istanbul, Helsinki, Rijeka, Maribor, Ljubljana, and other cities.

Among the most important "Operabils" are The Missing Engine of Laputa (performance lecture by Marko Košnik for Documenta Urbana 2 in Kassel in 2006); Operabil Conspirare (at the opening ceremony in the Auditorium of the Berlin festival Transmediale 08 where Košnik performed with Stephen Kovats); and Operabil Kobe, a module of media opera under construction, celebrates the project of Euroasian highway, which is to connect Europe with China. (First premièred in Xebec Hall, Kobe in 2006, the European version premièred at KIBLA Multimedia Centre by Masayuki Sumi, Barbara Thun and Marko Košnik). In 2008 KIBLA Multimedia Centre also hosted Operabil Memotopia (premièred in Bern) by Barbara Thun and Marko Košnik.

Recent projects

Electropera

Electropera, a travelling festival was a 3-year project (2009–2011) of Egon March Institute in the context of X-OP network, a European platform for artistic creation supported by the Culture Programme (2007–2013) of the European Union that synchronised artists, researchers, operators, producers, and cultural institutions (among the 10 partners in the network, Maribor's KIBLA Multimedia Centre was the project leader). The artists joined touring groups to present performances, concerts, installations, screenings, exhibitions, symposiums and workshops in 8 countries. They also created site-specific interventions and land-art works. Egon March Institute carried out 7 premières and the final presentation of the project.

The following acts took place in Turkey, Portugal, Estonia, Austria and Slovenia.

The Act 7: Coding the Society took place in June 2011 and was co-produced with K6/4 Institute (Kapelica Gallery, Cyberpipe, Cafe Metropol, and Klub K4).
A symposium was hosted by Cyberpipe. Many world renowned lecturers and artists from across the globe participated: Ben Patterson (US) from the Fluxus movement; Tom Fuersnter (AT) and Michael Saup (DE) – former professors of ZKM ​in Karlsruhe – and Andreas Findeisen (AT/DE) all presented radical research areas in contemporary art; while Irene Agrivine Widyaningrum (ID), Ferial Affif (ID) and Serra Ozhan Yueksel (TR) presented the development of artistic models in eastern Indonesia and Turkey. Stephen Kovats (CA) presented an early manifest of Marshall McLuhan.

Performances and stage events were held in Klub K4 featuring Ben Patterson's Cloning Society – Recent Developments; Evelyn Muursepp and John Grzinich: The Symposium as Organism; Jaap Blonk's dr. Voxoid's Next Move, the latter raising the question of the future of art using audio visual instruments.

The performance-symposium presented the latest developments in economics, politics, technology, culture, and art and marked the 25th anniversary of the Egon March Institute. That year the first publication that documents the work and production of EMI was published.

Zborogled

In November 2015 Egon March Institute staged an interactive visual installation and two public assemblies at Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture. "Zborogled" (Group Watch) was an interactive demonstration of artistic use of security cameras for public screenings in Kino Šiška, testing the possible updates to the law on protection of private property, which could enable a public watch of security systems for surveillance of public spaces. Invited experts with various backgrounds discussed the possibility of open access to the intellectual property created in Slovenia.